


the power of choice, magic and distractions

by imperiality (orphan_account)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ';), Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Mutual Pining, Pining, Pretty children distracted, Self Confidence Issues, as always, by each other, prosey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 01:51:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13136646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/imperiality
Summary: “You’ve done nothing wrong. I don’t think you can do anything wrong. It’s me, it’s my head. My head, it’s beingstupid, that’s what’s wrong.”Her still hand on his shoulder isn’t helping his frazzled thinking either, though. “What do you mean?”Does hehaveto tell her?“I mean I’m distracted.”“By… me?“Yes! By you!!” Oh, to hell with it. Allura cantrade deckswith him for all he cares at this point. “You’re very distracting to me!”Lance looks at Allura and sees something he doesn't deserve. Allura looks at Lance and sees something she can't have. How so very wrong they both are.





	the power of choice, magic and distractions

**Author's Note:**

> My work for [ theclichefortunecookie](http://theclichefortunecookie.tumblr.com) on tumblr! Please enjoy, and merry Christmas!
> 
> (This was my first try at anything pining-y, so I hope it turned out well :') )

So, Lance has always known Allura was pretty. Like, look at her! You don't have to look long to fall under her spell.

Be charmed.

Same thing.

She- Allura’s face has always been lovely. Holding her in his arms is easily the highlight of this whole Voltron thing. If he could just do it even one more time, he’d die a happy man. 

Allura's hair is almost the exact color of the high moon he shared with his siblings. Back on Earth, he’d sneak out with his brother and sisters up to the top of their roof, and he’d count the stars for them. The moon in all her glory would count back their worth. Allura is too astral for Lance’s own good.

The rings of Allura's eyes remind him of the waves at Veradero. He's taken back to sitting on shores, accompanied only by the _whush whush_ of the water. He misses the salty susurration of breezes rustling his hair. (Heh. He can think of a few other things he’d like to rustle his hair.)

Lance looks at the Princess’s face, and sees something nostalgic. Why is it that he already feels he has so many memories with her?

He doesn’t know when Allura started moving from pretty to beautiful. Was it between the time she became the next Blue Paladin? Was it between the time they were leaving Naxzela? Was it between the time he learned she had magic in her veins and justice in her heart?

Was it earlier?

In his mind he has to constantly and deliberately choose his wording. She is the Blue Lion’s pilot; the Blue Paladin. Not the _Missus Blue Lion._ (Even as much as he may want her to be. And _damn_ does he want it.)

And sometimes… maybe he wants Allura to hold _him_ every now and again.

Oh crap.

Now he’s going and thinking about it again.

Is it really so bad, though? Lance is just a lonely boy looking for love. When he looks at Allura, he sees love. Maybe not directed at him per se, but it’s bright. It’s vivid. Love for her people and love for her legacy proceed all of her thoughts and actions. Love for the mission and love for the cause is what inspires Lance to keep going.

Yes, he wants to find his family. Yes, he wants to defeat Zarkon. Yes, he wants to go home and get sleep and be still but- he wants to be a cause Allura can love, too.

Someday.

Or in another reality.

  
A boy can dream, right? Maybe when he stops dreaming of all the ways she can hold him, he’ll start dreaming of all the ways she can love him. You know. Above the waistline.

The truth of the matter is, Allura is never going to look his way. Her ocean eyes and ribbon glow will never spare him a second glance.

He can hold her up with all his expended energy. He can push her forward until she is so far surpassed he can’t see her horizon. He can do that for her. He will do that for her. He has done that for her and this… _feeling_ he’s not calling Love is staining him.

His conviction is Allura.

His sin is the give.

So he can keep himself closer and closer to her and feel ever father away. Her pedestal is higher than Altea’s atmosphere. The place she stands rests below her knees. (Lance wishes his servitude could look the same.) 

The ground is even, they walk the same plane. Yet in Allura’s exaltation, Lance begs to meet her eyes just _once_. 

He’ll never be enough for her.

That won’t stop him from trying.

 

The war puts a little damper on it, though. Missions get in the way. Networking’s in the way. Defending’s in the way so there’s no time for “romance”.

Romance. What’s that. Who’s she?

Lance is trying to find her. 

Allura is trying to prove his existence. She thinks she sees something amorous in Lance. She thinks she feels him gazing of its manifest. (Who said he was allowed to keep looking away?) Every time she starts to feel static on the back of her neck, Lance would be turning his head the half-second before she did.

He’s not being very subtle.

He’s giving out too many signs, he’s showing too much of his hand. But Allura has no room to talk. _She is, too_.

They’ve taken to the “I’m going to pretend I don’t notice you looking at me, then switch roles when I look at you” game. It’s a fairly tied match at this point. Lance takes his gazes after mission debriefings, late-nite communing and silent star-gazing. Allura steals them right back after hard battles won and seeing the humility of Lance’s outstretched hand. 

Allura looks, and sees something she wants to hold in her arms, be held in again. She looks and sees something beautiful, proud and selfless. Something brash but willing. She sees a storm. She sees something she can’t have.

The Princess’s eyes are fully functional. As a matter of fact, they work a little too well for her liking. She can trace tan skin with her eyes and wants smooth skin melting on her tongue. Every line and tendon down his neck, all the cording through his arms- she takes it all in. She wishes she _didn’t_. It’s very distracting.

Lance is very distracting.

Lance is so very distracting but in none of the ways he thinks he is. (Or at least, not most of the time). These things about him are things she so terribly wants, and knows she isn’t allowed. 

 _Get it together, Allura! You’ve got a Lion to fly, you’ve got the Galra to beat. You’ve got a_ war _to win._

If she weren’t warring so much with her internal desires, her attention wouldn’t be so divided. 

Does that boy know just how beautiful he is? Does he realize just how much he’s worth? Does he realize _everyone on this team would level planets for him_?

There’s a person that Lance is trying to be, then there’s a person that Lance is. The person he’s growing into before them all has the power to flatline Allura’s heart with just a look. Allura wants to get to know that person better. (She wants to taste the divine.) In such an effort for achievement, she puts them on missions together.

“But I want to escort Allura to-“ insert planet here, will he say.

“Okay, Lance. If you must.” will say she. She thinks she tampered her eagerness enough. Right?

Other times the Princess will be more blatant in her initiation.

“Because of the Red Lion’s agility and speed, Lance _must_ accompany me for this extraction.” No one else- no _Lion_ else would do. And that’ll be that.

And no one questions the Princess. Lance least of all. Like, who is he? He’s not going to look a gift-horse in the mouth and turn down some special one-on-one time with her. He’s not a complete idiot.

His stupid _mind is though_ , for all the screaming of “notice me! notice me! notice me!” it’s doing. But trust Allura. She has no trouble noticing Lance for a second.

 

Lance has to try a new approach to woo the Princess. She didn’t really take well to his Lines. (Not that he really _really_ expected them to anyway, but still.) If lines are out of the picture and little gifts at her feet are too obvious, what’s a boy to do? He wants to keep it classy. He wants to keep it inconspicuous. Well. As inconspicuous as he still can.

He can’t let her know just how fast and how much she really is activating- um. Right. There’s an even lesser chance of him telling her _that_ , so that’s out. 

No way no how is he… confessing or anything like that. That’s ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as leaving little gifts for her. Moving on.

No, no he needs something subtle. He needs something quiet. He needs something persistent, something big and something meaningful for her to look his way.

Lance thinks about it. He thinks and thinks and thinks. What on Earth, Altea or the bright star Sirius can he possibly give her that would acquiesce to all those things? He’s at a loss. He’s _thinking_ but it’s not coming to him and these fights are _too loud_ and he just wants to decompress. He’ll rest for a little bit.

Give him a little bit of time, and he’ll come back to Allura with something she’s really worthy of. With a little bit of time, he can offer her something she deserves. After that, Missus Blue Lion here he comes.

Just a little bit of time.

But he’s so _tired_ , though. And he’s already thought so much. He’s at a loss.

Lance is at a loss.

Sure, he can be the big-time sharpshooter. Yes he will absolutely accept the title of Loverboy Lance. It fits him. Maybe like a dried cotton shirt it fits, but it fits all the same.

 _Lovesick Lance_ is more apt. 

Is it- is it really okay for him to be so consumed with thoughts of Allura? In all reality, she’s higher ranking than Shiro. Should he feel wrong? (The rest of his thoughts already make him feel dirty, so he’ll leave that path less travelled _un_ -traveled for now.)

God, is _anything_ Lance does okay? He’s putting his all and beating his body in the effort to save the entire damn universe. No pressure.

He has to fight, but he wants to love.

Lance wants to _love_ , okay! He wants to go back to his family and embrace them all one by one! He wants to splash on crystalline beaches and open his mouth wide under rainy afternoons. He wants to love his Voltron family, he wants to love the greater good. He wants to.

He wants to shower, overwhelm, _eclipse_ Allura with all his love. But he can’t. Not yet. He doesn’t know how. He’s at a loss. He can’t think.

 

Allura notices Lance being a little quieter these days. That’s a good thing, right? That implies his focus. His silence is indicative of his harder priorities. That has to be it. He’s still laughing at the dining table, he’s still joking (sparing) with Keith; that all seems to be in order. It’s just that. Hmm.

Forgive Allura if she’s being presumptuous, but it’s almost like the times he isn’t outright laughing or tooth-and-nail fighting, he’s… moping. Allura quickly decides she doesn’t like the mope. She doesn’t like it one bit.

She doesn’t like Lance’s silence. It isn’t good at all. Lance has never been a mysterious boy, but all these questions on account of his quiet aren’t doing anything for it. Mystery doesn’t fit Lance, and the questions only make Allura anxious.

_Why is he so quiet?_

_Where does he keep going?_

_Why does he not seem to spend as much time with us, anymore?_

_What is he thinking about?_

_Why is this so_ infuriating?!

Allura can let him have his space. Maybe he needs it, just a little bit of down time. She can let him have his space. For sure. 

Until she can’t.

The woman has been putting up with a lot for the past few thousand years, okay? She’d rather not waste any more time than she absolutely has to, be it within her power. (Her father always told her, “ _My darling Allura. People can always make more babies, but you can never make more time_.” To which her mother would have to swoop in and say “ _It’s GAC, darling! You can always make more GAC!”_ )

Now time may be of the essence, but so is tact. She can time this right.

She chooses to pick the most quiet of their nights. 

Ah, and this night, it seems as though luck is on her side. Lance is finally (blessedly) out of his bedroom for once. The silence still lingers.

The silence she will eradicate.

Slinking behind Lance’s shoulders as he sits alone on the observation deck, Allura is almost regretful to break his serenity.

Almost.

It would cause Allura more remorse, had she not found it so _disturbing_ how seamless Lance fit amongst the stars. _Stop it! Stop it you_ , her mind cries. _Your home is here!_ She wants the stars to be only in his eyes. The stardust remain in his blood. _Keep the stardust contained, if you please. You will join them all too soon._

She helps to avert his eyes.

Her voice dances just above the Castle's old mechanical hum, “What are you looking at?” Not a dumb question- if he catches on.

“Home.”

And he got it. Allura digs a little deeper. “We’ve noticed you’ve been a bit silent lately. Any reason?”

Lance returns the favor. “Who’s ‘we’?”

“Me.” The woman’s voice fans out.

Lance’s thin, dry voice is far too weak. “Aww, Princess. You’ve been worrying about me. You _do_ care.”

“Of course I care, Lance. As a paladin of Voltron, defender of the universe, a dear, dear friend-“

“Is that all?” Lance cuts in.

Allura tilts her head. “Is what all?”

“You, to me, is it-“ his eyes are still distant. Unfocused. _He almost bled his entire hand._ His veins only have so much to be leeched. _That was close._ “Nevermind.”

All of this time-wasting! What did Lance want to say?

“What about me to you?” she glides to his side to sit next to him. Together they watch the moving stars and drifting Space. 

“Hey Princess. I have a question for you."

This, Allura can amuse. “What is it, Lance?”

“Are you… are you mad at me?”

“What could I-“

“-That I took your lion?”

That he took _her_ lion? Well first of all, “You didn’t _take_ my Lion, Lance. And you didn’t take _my_ Lion, either. You were the Blue Paladin because the Blue Lion chose you! Then things changed, as they must. Now you are the chosen Red Paladin; a very high honor. The Lions belong to no human, Altean, _Galra_ or person on the face of any planet in any reality. The bonds are unique, deliberate and indisputable. You know this.”

“Yeah, but. It’s just. The Red Lion was your father’s. Then it was Keith’s, but, like. That was before you had to become a paladin, too.” Slowly, ever so slowly, Lance lowers his head.

Allura corrects him. “I got the opportunity to become a paladin. There’s no ‘had’ about it. I love it. I love it! Fighting along with the rest of you and being rushed in the heat of battle?” She rustles her hair. “ _Ahh_ , I think there’s little more euphoric then coming home after a great win. Anyhow,” she re-sets her shoulders. “The Red Lion chose my father, that is true. But he was never ‘his’. Then the Red Lion chose Keith, but he wasn’t ‘his’ any more or any less. Now he calls to you. 

“Perhaps you see the Red Lion as my legacy or something to be bequeathed. I too thought that for a long time, but I realize different. Yes, my father piloted Red. That was their bond. But here is something you must understand: Red, nor any of the Lions are my father’s to give. Do you understand?”

“Soo…” Lance wrings his hands. “You’re not mad at me?”

“Lance!” She throws her hands right over his shoulders, looking him right in the eyes. “Why would I be mad at you? Is there something you’ve done that I _should_ be mad at?”

 _Maybe not done, but_ thought _for sure_. 

Lance salvages his crumbling confidence. “Maybe-e, becaausee,” he elongates. “I’ve been so quiet lately? Don’t worry, Princess. I’ll get my mojo right quick. I guess I’m just in a funk right now.”

She really wants to ask what a ‘funk’ is. (She can use her context clues.) She asks instead, “Well. What has you in this ‘funk’?”

Rapidly drumming his fingers over his knees, he answers “Oh. Nothing- nothing in particular.”

Quiznackery. Allura is getting to the bottom of this. She is going to make this boy get his luster, his happy, his _beauty_ back even if it takes all night! “Is it about Voltron?”

“I guess you could say that.”

Okay. Allura can work a little bit with that. “Is it because you still feel guilty about Red?”

“No!” Lance shakes his head vehemently. “No, no, no. That is definitely _not_ it.”

The Princess takes a moment to think. “Is it about any other Lion?”

“Are we playing 20 Questions now?” the boy smirks.

She doesn’t even know what that is either, but “If we must, we will. If it’s not about any of the Lions, is it about someone in particular?”

Lance’s voice _squeaks_ when he admits “I guess you could say that… too.”

Hmmm. “Is Keith giving you trouble- are you two _fighting again_?”

“No!” he holds up his hands. “No, he and I are like buddies, now. We’re pals. We’re cool.”

Allura’s terse expression softens. “Has Pidge been pranking you too hard?”

“Her? Please. If anyone’s pranking would be too “hard”, it would be Shiro’s.”

“Then is Shiro giving you trouble?” Allura is losing her patience. Again.

Lance doesn’t mean it, though! He really doesn’t. It’s just. Kinda. So, would _you_ go telling the girl you’re head-over-heels with that with every question she asks, it’s only further permission to stare at her lips? (Not explicit permission, but how is Lance going to ask for boundaries about _that_?) 

“Is it me?” Allura raises a brow.

“Come again?”

“Is it me? Is it about me, this funk you’re in?” Allura says evenly. Somehow. Even with the thundering in her heart, with the nerves in her arms, the shakes in her hands. She’s rather proud.

But damn. Lance has been found out too quick. Is there still time to save face? “I guess. I guess you could-“

“Lance. Either you’re saying it or not. Is there something I’ve done? Have I done something wrong? I would have rather you’d have told me earlier instead of letting it fester like this.” _Instead of letting her grow her affections like she has._

“Princess, _no_! You’ve done nothing wrong. I don’t think you can do anything wrong. It’s me, it’s my head. My head, it’s being _stupid_ , that’s what’s wrong.”

Her still hand on his shoulder isn’t helping his frazzled thinking either, though. “What do you mean?”

 _Does he_ have _to tell her?_ “I mean I’m distracted.” 

“By… me?

“Yes! By you!!” Oh, to hell with it. Allura can _trade decks_ with him for all he cares at this point. “You’re very distracting to me! I’m sorry, Princess, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, but you wanted the truth and you already asked all that and I have to be honest with you and that’s what it _is_ and I’m _sorry_.”

Allura leans even closer to him. Her hand clenches even tighter to his. “I figured as much.”

“You figured what?” Lance snaps. “That I was sorry?”

“No, no. Not that.” The lady’s smile is warm and blanketing. (Just like the sands of his favorite shore.) “Your distractions.”

“How could you tell?” Does he really want to know?

“I think I could see the way you were looking at me. There’s no need to be sorry though, Lance. If it were actually interfering with your paladin duties that would be a different story. Since it didn’t, we’re okay.” She thinks she’ murmuring when she says, “as a matter of fact, I was rather flattered.”

Lance has no same delusions about his noise, though. “I KNEW it!”

“What did you know,” she finally leans away.

“You were looking at me, too! You were!” To that, she can’t deny. Her ensuing silence is the most incriminating of all. Lance raises his voice no longer, but his words. “Hey, hey. I have another question for you.”

“Yes?”

“Were you distracted by _me_?” His waggling eyebrows are untamed.

Blast. Allura can’t deny that, either! At least she gives him the clarity of a straight answer. “… _yes_.”

And she swears, Lance is the “!!!” symbol incarnate. Seriously. His glee is torrenting out from within him. “Yes! The Princess says ‘yes’! All this time I admired her from afar and I didn’t have to! Cause I distracted her too! _Ahhh!_ ” He actually screams. Seriously. “Wait.” His screaming abruptly stops. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why were you looking at… me?”

The Princess is genuinely baffled and flummoxed, wholly confused by that question. “Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?”

“Because I’m me? I mean, your Highness. Look at you. You’re a literal Princess. Forgive me for not seeing what someone like you would want in someone like me.”

Ah. Her infamous Shoulder-Grasp returns. “Lance.” She jostles his head to look at her. “You’re beautiful. _Beautiful_. You do so much on the castle, so much for me. That’s what I see. It’s almost painful you don’t see it, too.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” He shakes the fuzzy disbelief from his hair. “I’m just. _Wow._ This is happening, this is real.”

“The only think you need to be sorry for at this point,” she punctuates with a finger to his chest, “is for not telling me for so long. You of all people should know my detest for wasting time.”

“I know.” His throat shrinks. “I know.” His voice tightens. “I know, I _know_ -“ his shame intrudes.

Allura smiles to him. “Then we’re okay.” Places a soft, swift kiss on his cheek. “Because I know now. And,” her smile turns smarmy. “Because you have something brand-new to be distracted by.”

Now, Lance thought that was true long before she even said it, but yeah, sure. They can do with that. He can play along. “Oh yeah?”

“Yes, indeed.” (The kiss on his cheek lingered, but the whisper to his ear is _burning_.) “Now, you may be distracted by knowing all of my fond thoughts of you.”

Her expression is telling him that there’s quite a few. Lance’s mind is telling him he doesn’t know how that can be. He tells it to shut the hell right up- he wants to know them _all._

The fact that she can see something beautiful in Lance is perhaps the reason she’s the most beautiful of all. Her steadfast faith and undivided hope? Lance has no doubt she can make beauty from ashes.

She’s made beauty of Lance, so he doesn’t think he’s too far off.

First she was pretty. Now she’s beautiful. This? This is something he thinks goes beyond beauty. Or maybe perhaps, this is what it meant all along. (Is she gracious enough to share?)

It’s a relief to know what she’s feeling; to know that he’s allowed to feel himself. It’s a relief to know that he no longer has to feel guilty of simple tepid and fleeting glances- he can dwell in them now. It’s relieving to know she thinks as fondly of him as he does her. It’s a relief to know he can see her beauty, and return it back to her.

It’s a relief to know that instead of passing glances, in her beauty he can _count the ways_. It’s almost a little magical.

Lance can think of no better spell to be under.


End file.
